Season 4

Listen to the Podcast on 6 November 2025

Episode Details

Welcome to #CyberChats Season 4! 

What if the app keeping your family “safe” was also quietly putting your privacy at risk? 

In this special crossover episode, #CyberChats host Kennedy Taylor Tibbetts teams up with Cyber Pulse’s James Walsh to explore the hidden realities behind popular family tracking apps like Life360. These tools promise safety, security, and peace of mind — but what’s the real cost of being constantly connected?

Together, Kennedy and James unpack the complex tradeoffs between convenience and control, safety and surveillance. They dive into how these apps collect and share your data, how tracking can impact child development, and what happens when digital oversight starts to erode trust within families.

Whether you’re a parent trying to keep your kids safe or someone questioning just how much of your life is being tracked, this is an episode you don’t want to miss.

Topics: Life360, Find my Friends, Snapchat, Instagram, privacy, GDPR, CCPA, hackers, cybersecurity, location, geotagging, metadata

We cite a few articles during the chat, listed here in case you want to dive in:

The Markup article - Keegan, John (December 6, 2021). "The Popular Family Safety App Life360 Is Selling Precise Location Data on Its Tens of Millions of Users." The Markup. Retrieved December 6, 2021.

Stalking issues - "Alleged Stalking Victims Accuse Tile of Advertising Its Devices as Women Trackers." Yahoo News.
August 17, 2023. Retrieved August 20, 2023.

Karabus, Jude. "Stalking victims sue Tile, Amazon over trackers." www.theregister.com. Retrieved August 20, 2023.

Arkansas law firm sues Tile creators after stalking issues with device, retrieved August 20, 2023

Child Development - Cambridge University Press publication "Self-Regulation and Autonomy
Social and Developmental Dimensions of Human Conduct."

The Washington Post article - Ohlheiser, Abby (October 22, 2019). "'Don't leave campus': Parents are now using tracking apps to watch their kids at college." The Washington Post. Retrieved October 23, 2019.

Guest Details (Click on the guest photo or name for more details.)

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Many thanks to our Season 4 Sponsors